Rich Man, Poor Man

Recently, we had a friend from our college days that was sick and laid up in the hospital.  Several of our friends from surrounding states gathered at the hospital to check in on our buddy, Wesley being one of them.

While hanging out in the hospital waiting area, our friend Dwight* started to tease Wes about the state of his life: an often nagging wife, two kids in diapers, cattle and chores that need tended to daily, unstable cattle and grain markets, honey-do lists and the fact that Wes hadn't even been to the grocery store in years (I was a little thrown off by that jab, but nevertheless he listed it as it must have been a priority to him).

I guess Dwight had a point.  He did make his life sound pretty glamorous: single, carefree, no worries, going to the bar and hitting on women any time he wanted, able to go where he wanted and when he wanted.  He was able to eat exactly what he wanted because he bought exactly what he wanted at the grocery store (still not sure why he was so hung up on the grocery angle, but nevertheless, he was).

These statements were all pretty factual.  My husband does have a wife that nags him a bit too much; there isn't any financial stability in our lifestyle - especially when we are entirely dependent upon one income.  Dwight painted a pretty rosy picture of his lifestyle, but we could easily cast the same sort of negative light on his glamorous life.  He's single because his wife ran around on him and now they are divorced.  He goes out to the bars at night because he's too lonely when he sits at home by himself.  He eats grilled cheese sandwiches because he buys bread and cheese at the store. 

And I don't mean to totally make fun of his lifestyle, I just couldn't understand why he was being such a braggart and claiming that his was far superior to ours.  We survive financially because we're frugal (like, squeaky frugal), we have healthy kiddos and we enjoy our rowdy nights together in the feed pickup checking cattle.  I think we're doing okay.

I'm sitting here and trying to wrap my brain around the perfect quote to put all this into perspective and find a perfect little moral to my story.  The best I've been able to come up with is, "Dwight is an ass."  Which I feel is true, but not particularly nice.  And this isn't any sort of new revelation; I never much cared for him in college either.  So... It's all about perspective?  Life is what you make of it?  You're only as rich as you feel?  It's a Friday and I just can't quite put my finger on it exactly.  I'm open to suggestions.

*Name changed to protect the arrogant.